OBAMA 2014 BUDGET GIVES UNITED STATE PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ACCESS TO ALL FEE COLLECTIONS

OBAMA 2014 BUDGET GIVES UNITED STATE  PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ACCESS TO ALL FEE COLLECTIONS

Yesterday PRESIDENT OBAMA unveiled his 2014 budget recommendations to Congress, which included recommendations for the USPTO and other IP-related agencies. Under the Obama budget, the USPTO would be authorized to spend up to $3.071 billion and would have access to all user fees collected in 2014. (Click here for the massive 1381-page Appendix to the Budget, including pp.221-222 on the USPTO.) The budget states that “USPTO will continue its aggressive patent pendency reduction agenda to reduce overall pendency and backlog over the next three years . . . .” The budget documents do not appear to make clear whether the USPTO will have access to all of its fee collections for the current budget year, 2013, in the wake of the “sequester.” The Acting Secretary of Commerce will discuss the budgets of Commerce agencies including the USPTO at hearings of the House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees today.